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2016-11-06

News Review | What Is ICANN? | New ICANN Domain Name Transfer Policy

News Review | © DomainMondo.com



Domain Mondo's weekly review of internet domain news [pdf]:
  1. Feature: What is ICANN?
  2. Feature: New ICANN Domain Name Transfer Policy
  3. A new domain name for Alphabet's (Google) investment fund
  4. Who controls the internet?
  5. Google Power
  6. An idealist's dreams crushed by new gTLD's greed?
  7. ICANN57 meeting in Hyderabad, India
  8. India registering domain names at a leading rate
  9. Avoiding branding nightmares
  10. CCWG-Accountability Meeting in Hyderabad
  11. New gTLD .CHARITY
  12. Verisign's IANA Lobbyist
  13. Q3 2016 earnings season
  14. Governments and the internet: China, Turkey, U.A.E., and other despots
  15. ISPs and Terrorism (France)
  16. ISPs and Personal Data (U.S.)
  17. Internet Shutdown Prevention
  18. ITU CWG-Internet: Online Open Consultation
  19. Most popular posts this past week
1. Feature •  What is ICANN? 
"Indeed, the [ICANN] Bylaws could not comprise an enforceable contract between ICANN and Plaintiff, because Plaintiff lacks standing to claim that ICANN has breached the Bylaws. ICANN is a not-for-profit public benefit corporation, and only officers, directors, the corporation or a member [ICANN has no members] thereof, the [California] attorney general or a person with an interest in an asset the corporation holds in charitable trust have standing to sue for breach of the corporation’s foundational documents. Cal. Corp. Code § 5142; Hardman v. Feinstein, 195 Cal. App. 3d 157, 161–62 (1987)."--ICANN's Motion to Dismiss Memorandum (pdf) at p.17 of 33, Ruby Glen LLC vs ICANN, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Case 2:16-cv-05505-PA-AS., filed Oct. 26, 2016 (emphasis added).

2. Feature •  New ICANN Domain Name Transfer Policy Effective December 1, 2016 summarized as follows:
  • Effective December 1, 2016, it will no longer be possible to change the registrant of a domain name with a simple domain modification request.
  • Any changes to first name, last name, organization or email address fields for the registration, current or new, of any gTLD [.COM, .NET, .ORG, new gTLDs, etc.] domain name will now start a process mandated by the new ICANN policy.
  • The process involves obtaining explicit confirmation from current and "new" registrants before a change can be completed.
  • After a change of registration has been completed, previous and new registrant will receive a confirmation notice informing them that the change has completed.
  • After a change of registrant has been completed, the domain is by default locked for transfers to a new registrar for the following 60 days.
New transfer policy QA | OpenSRS.com: "At OpenSRS, we believe that the ICANN community who came up with this new policy did a disservice to [domain name] registrants. The policy requirements do not add any positive element to the experience of managing a domain name, and there has been no consideration how this policy would align with the number of other ICANN mandated policies which are already in place. Nonetheless, OpenSRS is, like all other ICANN accredited registrars, bound by the terms of the Transfer Policy .."
Once this new ICANN policy is in effect on December 1, 2016, the impact on domain name registrants, including domain name resellers and their end users, will be considerable. Other registrars, including an industry leader, Namecheap.com, are re-working the terms of their service agreements in order to comply with ICANN's onerous policy while attempting to ease the burdens it unnecessarily imposes on domain name registrants:
New ICANN Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy | Namecheap.com: "According to the regulations introduced by Internet Corporation of Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN) starting from December 1, 2016, a new Transfer Policy will be in effect with all registrars. To better serve our customers and ensure ICANN regulations are followed, we are updating our Universal Terms of Service Agreement as described below ...." (read more at link above).

 Other internet domain news:

3.  A new domain name for Alphabet's (a/k/a Google) investment fund, Google Capital, which rebranded as CapitalG on Friday with a new domain name: capitalG.com. CapitalG investments include Snap Inc. (snap.com), parent company of Snapchat (snapchat.com). The domain name googlecapital.com redirects to capitalg.com.

4. Who controls the internet? A cheat sheet guide to who controls the internet| Slate.com: "... Concentration of corporate power: While the internet itself is decentralized, a disproportionate amount of traffic passes through a small handful of privately owned sites and services such as Google and Facebook. Will these companies become the de facto stewards of the internet? Public participation: In theory, internet governance institutions such as ICANN are open to all stakeholders, including ordinary citizens. But how open are they? Can we develop systems that ensure everyone has a voice—and knows how to contribute?"  See also What exactly is internet governance? | Slate.com.

5. Google Power: A Gmail Rival Sent to Siberia by a Mysterious Google Glitch | NYtimes.com: “Google directly caused ProtonMail’s growth rate worldwide to be reduced by 25 percent for over 10 months,” the company wrote in its blog post. The company went from covering its monthly expenses to drawing on its emergency reserve fund ... this episode is a reminder of a conflict of interest at Google’s core. It is like a football team that gets to write the rules, own all the equipment and control the referees. No opposing franchise in its right mind would compete on those terms, but Google’s popularity and its singular role in online commerce mean that rivals don’t have a choice. See also:

 6. An idealist's dreams crushed by new gTLD's greed? Read Abandoning Intuition & Digital Equity | connectingnyc.org and #StopTheAuctions: High-Bid Auctions Deflate the .nyc TLD | circleid.com.

7.  ICANN57 meeting in Hyderabad, India, began Thursday, November 3, and runs through Wednesday, November 9. More info with links here: ICANN57 and Links | DomainMondo.com. See also FY16 Annual Report of Expense Reimbursement and Other Payments to ICANN Directors for the Period 1 July 2015 Through 30 June 2016 | ICANN.org. For ICANN57 daily updates, follow on Twitter @sgdickinson:

8. India registering domain names at a leading rate:
"New research from consulting firm Zinnov found that the number of web domains owned by Indian entities grew by 11.9% between June 2013 and June 2016, substantially outpacing the global average of 8.7%. Of these, 56% are registrations in the ‘.com’ TLD, with a further 28% in the country-specific ‘.in’. The next most popular TLDs among Indian entities are ‘.net’ (4%); ‘.org’ (4%); ‘.info’ (1%); ‘.mobi’ (1%); ‘.biz’ (1%); and ‘.asia’ (0.4%). Registrations in new gTLDs accounted for 2% of Indian domains, with other TLDs making up the remaining 3%. To better understand which TLDs were the focus of the intensive growth in new domain registrations, the researchers analysed the preferences of Indian SME registrants at the time of purchasing their domains. They found that legacy TLDs were by far the most popular, with 79% of SMEs aiming to purchase a ‘.com’ domain over options available in other TLDs. Close to 95% of the surveyed SMEs ended up purchasing a domain name the same as, or similar to, their brand name."--WorldTrademarkReview.com
9.  Avoiding branding nightmares: "An area which is often overlooked is domain names; however in the digital age they can be vital assets to your business and brand. Obtaining a domain name for your brand will help with marketing your products and/or services, as well as preventing any third parties from cyber-squatting by purchasing a domain name for the sole purpose of selling it to the brand owner. If you are committed to the brand, purchasing a domain name will not only enhance your brand portfolio, but help you promote your business."--Lexology.com

10. Co-Chairs Statement from CCWG-Accountability Meeting in Hyderabad | ICANN.org: During the meeting, the CCWG-Accountability received updates from its nine subgroups and produced a dashboard to update the ICANN Community about the status of its work ..." (more info at link above). See also IANA Transition Costs | Statement of Activity September 2016 YTD | ICANN.org and IANA Transition Costs | Periodic Cost Summary FY15, FY16 and FY17Q1 | ICANN.org.

11.  New gTLD .CHARITY: Applicant's Correspondence (pdf) to ICANN re: Independent Review Process (IRP) Final Declaration (pdf), Corn Lake, LLC (Donuts) v. ICANN, ICDR Case No. 01-15-0002-9938: "Corn Lake thus urges the Board to reinstate its .CHARITY application without additional review."

12.  Verisign's IANA Lobbyist: POLITICO.com reports the internet domain name registry operator, Verisign (.COM and .NET), brought on lobbyists at Arnold & Porter LLP in September to "handle any fallout in D.C. from the transition away from U.S. government oversight of domain names, according to a newly filed disclosure." Verisign, the internet Root Zone Maintainer under a new agreement with ICANN, also previously spent $80,000 on lobbying in the third quarter and has worked with K&L Gates LLP on policy around internet governance, cybersecurity and privacy.

13.  Q3 2016 Earnings season coverage on Domain Mondo concludes this coming week with domain name registry and registrar services provider Rightside (NASDAQ: NAME), LIVE webcast Nov. 8, at 4:30pm ET.  The world's largest domain name registrar, GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY) reported Q3 results this past week: total revenue of $472.1 million, up 14.8% year over year including domains revenue of $236.6 million, up 10.0% year over year. More here: Facebook $FB, GoDaddy $GDDY, Q3 2016 Webcasts, Nov 2, 5pm ET.

14. Governments and the internet: China, Turkey, Despots, U.A.E.

15.  ISPs and Terrorism: DigitalWatch.giplatform.org (pdf) reports Google.fr, Wikipedia and webhoster OVH.com were inaccessible in France after being wrongly added to ISP Orange’s terrorism blocking list.

16. ISPs and Personal Data: Internet Service Providers [ISPs] now need permission to share or sell your web browsing data in the U.S.--"U.S. Federal Communications Commission has finalized groundbreaking new rules that force all internet providers [ISPs], like Verizon, Comcast and AT&T, to obtain explicit consent from subscribers before selling data about online behavior to third-party marketers."--Recode.net

 17. Internet Shutdown Prevention:  Can Anything Prevent Another Internet Shutdown in the U.S.? | smallbiztrends.com: “There’s no silver bullet that will provide an easy remedy to this problem  ... As such, it is incumbent on users to educate themselves in online security best practices and for industry to take more proactive steps to optimize the security of their devices.”--Ryan Hagemann, technology and civil liberties policy analyst at the Niskanen Center

18.  ITU CWG-Internet: Online Open Consultation (Oct 2016- Jan 2017) | ITU.int Developmental Aspects of the Internet:
"Considering the importance of Internet to the global digital economy, all stakeholders are invited to submit their comments [by 4 January 2017] on the following key aspects: 1. What are the developmental aspects of the Internet (for example, economic, social, regulatory and technical aspects), especially for developing countries? 2. How can governments and other stakeholders promote the developmental aspects of the Internet? 3. What are the challenges and opportunities?" [More info at the link above.]